“Apple Watch is our most personal device ever, and WatchKit provides the incredible iOS developer community with the tools they need to create exciting new experiences right on your wrist,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With the iOS 8.2 beta SDK, developers can now start using WatchKit to create breakthrough new apps, Glances and actionable notifications designed for the innovative Apple Watch interface and work with new technologies such as Force Touch, Digital Crown and Taptic Engine.”This set of tools for developers will bring a new era of applications, to a device that will surely jumpstart the wrist device category. It’s not that Apple was the first to do this. They are probably behind a few dozen other wrist wearable gadgets from the past few decades. But it’s how Apple decides to roll out the WatchKit tools, and APIs that make it unique.
The tools will offer the developers the chance to build apps that improve our efficiency with our everyday lives, more then we currently can. It will give us the experience that I feel, most are truly looking for. Whether it’s getting the latest hockey scores, liking your sister-in-laws favorite dessert on Instagram, or just checking the status of a flight. The Apple Watch will be seamless. All because of how it provides premium tools to its developers to create fluent apps.
The iOS 8.2 SDK, which includes the WatchKit tools, is available immediately at Apple’s developer site: (http://developer.apple.com/watchkit). There are guides, templates, and more to be able to create apps.
Apple has also announced a few requirements, and features of the watch itself. It will require iPhone 5 or later to work. They have also released the specs of the screen size options. Which oddly mimic the difference from the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It will be offered in 38mm, which is 340×272 and the 42mm model, which is 390x312px resolution. To compare, the Motorola Moto360 watch features a 205ppi 320×290 resolution.